Hampton House concerts to open with Eric Benét
Miami motel lodged civil rights leaders, Black celebrities
Shortly after the Oscar-nominated movie, “One Night in Miami,” was released on Amazon Prime Video in January, the Historic Hampton House saw its web traffic increase and new faces show up at its door.
Both online and in-person visitors wanted to learn more about Miami’s legendary motel, a place that was central to the plot in Regina King’s directorial debut. During the Jim Crow years, the Hampton House was a safe haven for civil rights icons and Black celebrities and tourists. Many learned about it from the “Green Book,” a guide for African-American travelers.
A museum and cultural center since 2015, the Hampton House, located near Brownsville, the historic Black neighborhood west of Liberty City, labored in relative obscurity until “One Night in Miami” came along. Some South Floridians first learned about the iconic site from Kemp Powers’ award-winning play, which ran in 2018 at Miami Beach’s Colony Theatre. But it was the film version, also written by Powers, that reached a far wider audience.
“We went from about 200 to
2,000 hits a day right after the movie came out,” said Jacqui Colyer, who chairs the Historic Hampton House Board of Trustees, a nonprofit that runs the county-owned property. “And we would get visitors all the time, which was difficult because we had been locked down for nine months.”
Now reopened at half-capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the center is ready to leverage the spotlight that Hollywood has afforded it. Preservationists such as Colyer hope to boost public awareness about Hampton’s role in the history of Miami’s civil rights movement.
Eric Benét opening night
Toward this goal, the venue is launching “From BeBop to HipHop,” a six-concert series that will pay tribute to Hampton’s jazz lounge — also known as “the Cotton Club of the South” — where entertainers including Josephine Baker, Nat King Cole, Nina Simone and Sammy Davis Jr. once performed.
The series opens Saturday, March 27 with neo-soul singer-songwriter Eric Benét, a multiple Grammy nominee best known for songs such as “Spend My Life with You,” “You’re the Only One” and “Sometimes I Cry.” He is scheduled to perform two dinner shows — at 6:30 and 9 p.m. — in the venue’s open courtyard, with socially distanced tables and limited pod seating, mask-wearing requirements, and meals curated by local celebrity chefs, according to organizers.
Tickets are available on the Hampton House’s revamped website, which will be updated with information on the remaining concerts in the series, said Wayne Anderson, director of public relations.
Organizers hope to re-create the vibe that gave the Hampton House its segregation-era soundtrack. Most Black celebrities who performed there also stayed there, because they were not allowed to stay at Miami Beach hotels where they also performed.
“We wanted to take that and bring it forward to today’s hip-hop artists,” said Anderson, who helped curate the series. “It will span different genres and musical styles to mirror some situations going on back then.”
The Hampton House is also fundraising to install a new permanent audio-visual collection that will allow visitors to live the “Green Book” story as it was experienced at the boutique motel. The goal is to have the exhibit up by year’s end, Colyer said.
It will cover some of the themes raised in “One Night in Miami.” The movie tells a fictionized story about an actual Hampton House encounter between Malcolm X, Cassius Clay, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown the night of Feb. 25, 1964, when Clay defeated Sonny Liston for the heavyweight boxing title. Shortly after, he became Muhammad Ali.
Eric Benét will perform “From BeBop to HipHop” at 6:30 and 9 p.m. Saturday, March 27, at the Historic Hampton House, 4240 NW 27th Ave., Miami. Tickets cost $85-$125. Call 305-638-5800, or visit HistoricHamptonHouse.org.